Insidiae
by TeddysFromHeyll
Summary: Sora & company encounter a new threat from the distant past. But then, they find out that Sora's losing more than just hope - He's losing his heart and sinking deeper into the darkness. Can they bring him back before they lose him completely? [KairixSora]
1. Broken Seal

**Insidiae**  
Written by : TeddysFromHeyll  
Rating: PG 13  
Type: Romance, Action/Adventure  
Category: Kingdom hearts  
Status: Non-yaoi (not anti-yaoi), KairixSora  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Summary: Keyblade master and company encounter a new threat from the distant past. But in the mean time, the gang finds out that Sora's losing more than just hope. He's losing his heart and sinking deeper into the darkness. Can Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy and the gang bring him back before they lose him completely?   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
AN: First KH fic so don't expect this to be the best you've ever read. Don't own anything. And I'm aware that our heroes are OOC. It's been a year and a half. Change is always inevitable .  
[--Insert very clever and humorous disclaimer here--].   
[--Insert pathetic self loathing 'My fic sux, but plz review anyway' sentence here in a shameless attempt to get more reviews.--]   
This fiction was written without any outside influence. This means that it is based on my ideas and my ideas alone. Any similarities between this fic and others are purely coincidence. I don't need to bite off of other people to write a fanfic. I will continue posting and writing regardless of negative reviews (or lack thereof) that I am bound to receive, so if you don't like it, tough luck. Otherwise, I will be posting new chapters weekly, so please enjoy. Take care, and I wish you happy KH fanfiction hunting.   
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Chapter 1:   
Broken Seal

The small band of warriors would have enjoyed the scenery. The grass underneath their feet was soft, the sound of birds filled the air, even the very trees themselves seemed to be swaying to the rhythmic dance that the four were participating. Of course, they would if the had they been paying attention to it. Instead, the four were cutting away at a group of isolated Heartless. 

Sora routinely brought down his keyblade in a quick swipe, the small shadow disappearing even before his keyblade plunged into the earth. He paused, standing from his fighting stance to casually looked over to where his companions were fighting. It was quite a ways away, but he still had them in his line of sight so he relaxed for a moment long enough to plop down on the ground. His back felt the itch from the individual blades of grass and he shifted so they wouldn't prick to uncomfortably against his skin. 

His two friends were completely surrounded by a large group of assorted heartless, but Sora simply brushed his two companions out of his thought. 

It wasn't like they needed help or anything. It was the same- all the time. 

He practically counted the seconds before Donald casted a thundaga spell and they all vanished, small black wires of smoke snaking through the open air. 

Goofy and Donald didn't even need to catch their breath. It was the kind of thing they were used to now. 

Sora planted himself firmly on a boulder (that really was just rubble from some rickety old castle nearby) after he decided that the grass beneath him wouldn't relent in their effort to irritate him. 

He let his mind wander. 

"There he goes again," Donald muttered to Goofy who hitched the shield to his newly purchased shoulder strap. 

"Huh?" Goofy said. Donald motioned over with his bill across the large field to where the daydreaming Sora was gazing off into the sky in reply. 

"He's off in his own world again. Been like this all week," Donald sighed, lifting his hat to scratch his head in frustration. The duck-billed court mage glanced at his surroundings. It was beautiful, sure, but it wasn't enough to calm his growing contempt. "I swear, if he doesn't wipe that frown off his face, I'm going to go crazy." Goofy nodded, but didn't necessarily agree. 

"Ah Donald, let it get to you," he said reassuringly. He watched Pluto hurry over to Sora and sit at his feet. Pluto idly followed Sora's feet as they swung back and forth. He reached over to pet Pluto and he abruptly tackled Sora attempting to jump into his lap. Goofy nearly laughed, had not Sora's face returned to the regretful state it was before. "Sora's been a real trooper until now. It's gotta be hard on him." 

"I understand that -but still- I don't understand why he always mopes around and sulks in his spare time. He could be doing something important. Just because he doesn't feel like it, he has to slack off- why does that boy insist on making things hard for us?" 

"Because doing anything else hurts," said his companion sadly. The mage paused in his ramblings to send a cautious look towards his friend. "Every day he looks a little more and more tired. We've been searching for a year and a half now. It may not seem like all that much to other people, but it's got to be horrible for him. I think he's starting to lose hope." He didn't say anything for a time. He simply hopped up and planted himself firmly on the broken section of the ruined wall beside Goofy. 

"He's 'lost' two of the most important people in his life." 

Donald spoke up idly. "But if Sora is....How are we…. " Donald said slowly. He paused and frowned at his loss of words. "Just what are we supposed to do now?" he finished, almost with a wistful tone. 

Goofy shrugged uncharacteristically and the two stared down the road where Sora was walking towards them from the edge of the forest with a bounce in his step they hadn't seen in a long time. He was still trying to pretend that everything was going to be all right. Even the look on Pluto's face reflected concern for Sora. 

They kept silent until the boy walked gingerly past them. He spotted their gazes and sent them a small wave upon his approach. 

"Hey listen guys, I'm kind of tired. I think I'm going to crash at the Inn back in town," he said and jerked his thumb down the dirt path, "That okay with you guys?" 

"Sure thing Sora. We'll catch up to you later. We've got some things to finish up before we can call it a day," said Goofy. 

"Really now? Oh, well see ya later then," he said and spoke as he walked backwards. "Ah… I think I might wanna take a talk around town though. Maybe get some high potions or see if they got anything new at the item shop." 

"Yeah, yeah. We'll catch up with you later," Goofy called as he walked out of yelling distance. 

Somehow, the two felt almost unsure as they watched him sink out of sight from the other side of the hill. What could they possibly do? It wasn't like they were the touchy, feely, everything's going to be all right types. 

"Just hope this goes away with time. I don't think I can stand Sora like that for too long," said Donald. 

"Hm." Goofy nodded. And the two hopped off the section of rotted stone to make their way deeper into the forest. 

Pluto nudged Sora's knee gently, as to not knock him out of balance. Sora looked down at the dog and patted his head. 

"What is it, boy?" he said, not really expecting an answer. But Pluto was a smart dog. He didn't need words to express anything. He was even glad for once for company instead of solitude. He really appreciated someone who wouldn't lecture. Even if they weren't able to in the first place. 

Pluto tilted his head at him and wined quietly as they paced along. Sora laughed. "You're worried about me." Pluto gave a small nod. Sora smirked. He raised his hands above his head and intertwined his fingers in a stretch. A bird flew out of a large oak tree overhead, chirping so madly as to catch both their attentions. Sora stopped walking and took a deep breath of the forest air. 

"This place really is great isn't it?" Pluto grumbled a small and almost cat-like 'Nyuff' at his attempt at changing subject. But Sora understood this, being with the dog way too long to misinterpret. A small chuckle before his expression faded again. 

"This is getting stupid…" Sora finally muttered to himself as the defending walls of the small town jumped into his view with every step. Pluto kept silent, hoping the boy would finally get out his emotions instead of bottling them up all the time for their sake. So he nudged Sora once more. He didn't react, but did, however, continue his train of thought. "… I thought I was all that back then. Back when I was actually fighting for the good of the universe, there." 

The two guards standing watch at the gate watched him go by before their attention returned to the forest where he had come from. 

"I don't wanna do this anymore. I just wanna go home. That's not too much to ask, is it?" he said. 

A cat pranced by without realizing Pluto's presence. And before Pluto realized it, he dashed from Sora's side and started barking hysterically after the vile creature in front of him. The cat wailed in terror and shot off after Pluto just about slammed into it from sheer uncontrollable sprint. Pluto stood his ground and kept barking until it scampered up one of the stands and fearfully perched itself against the wall- out of Pluto's reach. 

With a sudden whimper, Pluto's eyes widened and he meekly slipped back into his spot beside Sora, severely disappointed in himself. 

He knew that even if he nudged Sora again, he wouldn't try to explain. He was just about to let it all out and tell Pluto just what was wrong. He growled at himself, but Sora didn't hear. He as already too deep into his thoughts to register that he was halfway through the market's streets. 

He didn't even notice his feet stop walking beneath him. 

_I miss you Kairi… Riku, you too… I want to… I want to go home. See you both…_And the keyblade seemed to creak in laughter at him as it tapped against his back once or twice in the wind. 

But he couldn't even do that. He didn't even know where the hell he was. It would be so easy to drop everything: The search for Riku and Mickey. The never ending fight against the remaining heartless. 

Things never could be easy for him- He was the Keyblade master after all. Evil followed him like a plague, or at least they seemed to. In reality, it was usually Sora and company who confronted the heartless before they engaged in battle. But it was all the same to him. What did it matter, anyway. He'd just keep walking- his feet taking him and his companions wherever they wanted. 

His mind didn't register the distant but rapid clopping of something against the dirt behind him. He was too lost in the buzz of the market and of his own mind. Pluto circled nervously, his 6th sense already kicking in. He whipped his head to look in Sora's direction and perked up his ears. 

He sighed and let the wind play with his hair. He had spent three years of his life chasing his dreams, hopes, and images of being a hero. When it all came down to it, all he had was that stupid keyblade that was only able to smack around a couple of shadows. That and his friends. 

He missed Kairi. She had probably changed so much since they last saw each other. 

_Can I keep the promise?_ He asked himself. His eyes fell to the ground at his feet. _To see you again… I mean._ Was she happy? Did she move? Was she still at Destiny Islands? _Did you wait for me?_  
He slumped down on his knees, so deep in his thoughts. 

Pluto's eyes darted across the crowd, still trying to figure out just what had attracted his attention. The clopping of hooves got louder. 

_Riku, where are you?_ He thought to himself. _How do I even know you're still out there?_

Pluto spotted it. 

_Are you even **alive**!?_

The man on horseback didn't see Sora until it was too late. He pulled back violently on his reigns to slow the gallop of his horse. Sora blinked in reply and rushed to his feet, but was only able to watch the descent of the horse's hooves down on him. 

Suddenly, he felt himself tackled and he landed off to the side, his skin scraping painfully against the dirt. 

"Dumb kid- you should know better than to sit in the middle of the road!!" The horse's owner cried before continuing on his way. The sound of the rider left his ears and Sora sat up to find Pluto laying on him. He sat up and Pluto backed up a step to lick the dirt and blood off his face. 

"You pushed me out of the way didn't you?" he said. Pluto nodded quietly. He touched his forehead where a small cut was. He took a look at his dirt-covered clothes and suddenly felt the urge to laugh. So he did. He laughed heartily and leaned on his right arm. He looked at Pluto with a smirk and fell forward, bringing Pluto into his arms. "Thanks, boy. I'm just being stupid again. I always need to be saved." Pluto frowned as well as a dog could. 

"..I.. am tired…" Sora's voiced cracked and he felt Sora shudder slightly as a small sob escaped his lips. "..of pretending. I just want to be like everyone else. I don't want to be strong anymore." The laughter had turned into the silent weeping that Pluto had most feared would come. Pluto didn't move, allowing him to soak his tears into his fur and gave Sora a comforting whimper of support. "I-I can't stand how everyone expects me to smile when all I can think about is how I'll never see either of them again. Keep thinking about how I'll **_always_**_ be **stuck** in this God-forsaken **place**_!!!" 

People passing by gave only a small glance before looking away. "I'm tired of everything. I just want it to be over. I don't know what I want anymore. I just…."

He didn't continue. He only wiped the tears off his face. He probably looked like one of the heartless, himself. The tears were making streaks down his dirty face, no doubt and his eyes were probably red too. 

Pluto poked his nose past Sora's defending wrist and licked at his cheek. 

"….I'm _such_ a wimp," he said to himself. Pluto gave a last lick. "Heh… Hey ….s'all right… quit it. - I think I'm okay…" He lied. But he was hardly all right. The only difference was that he realized where he was and just what he was doing. Sora wouldn't cry. It wasn't in his nature to cry. He was always so happy. Besides, what would Riku say if he saw Sora balling his eyes out over nothing. 

_Probably that I need to get a hold of myself._ "What kinda keymaster am I anyway?" he said. He tussled the fur on Pluto's head with his palm and grinned as best he could for him. Pluto perked up somewhat and pushed him to his feet and jumped a few feet ahead of Sora in the direction of the Inn. He turned back expectantly and Sora casually followed. 

A sudden movement caught Sora's eye and he reached for his keblade. Pluto growled, but Sora shushed him. It was a crowded place and it could've been anything. Pluto walked forward obediently, but his ears were drawn back in alert. 

"If it's after me, it'll follow me. Otherwise, we'll just keep going for-," he interrupted himself and lashed out. He swung his Keyblade out in a wide arc, cutting off whatever it was that had leapt out towards him. He looked at the ground where a heartless soldier lay dead at his feet. It disappeared with a few whisps of smoke. 

"That's funny…" He said to Pluto. "… the heartless have never actively sought me out before." He brought his keyblade back to its holster. He returned to the Inn only after spending several minutes pondering to himself quietly. Then, with the careless turn of his heel, he marched to the building nearby and went upstairs to get much needed sleep.   
  
  
  
  
In the darkness in a deathly quiet room somewhere, there laid five distinct coffins. Each holding five pairs of eyes shut tightly in a deep sleep. 

With an ear-piercing clap of thunder outside, the several bright red marks engraved on the coffins shattered into a thousand pieces. 

Simultaneously, the eyes fluttered open. 

The five sleeping forms stirred within the coffins. 

One hissed and brought his lanky, human-like body out of the constricting 'bed.' 

"We've been awakened…" 

"The seals…" spoke one woman's voice as she rose to her feet. It was deep and sensual to the ears of the others and they basked in its smooth serenade. Her black wings flapped noisily, moving about the stale, musty air. The second of the eyes rose as well and his joints clacked as he turned to her. "The seals are broken." 

"And it was about time- such a long wait… I was wondering when we'd get to play again," said a childish voice. She eagerly leapt out and ran her fingers through her deep-crimson hair. 

A commanding voice sounded out and the other four immediately shot to attention, "Quise, get us out of here." 

The winged one laughed and seductively pranced toward the stone wall. Even in the darkness, she could see everything. Besides- that's where she came from anyway, so what did it matter? Their eyes followed her as she raised her palm and placed it up against the cold stone. There was a bright pulse of dark evergy from her hand and immediately the wall exploded and the moonlight flooded into the concealed room. They shielded their eyes a moment before taking in the energy the beautiful moon provided to them. 

"We're free again. To do as we please…" said a calculating and cruel voice. But the commanding voice took over again. Their bodies tensed in the dark as he shot out calm orders. 

"Not quite. We've been awakened because the darkness is calling. We have a purpose before we may … 'do as we please.'" The commander walked up to the opened in the wall and overlooked the cliffs that could be seen below. 

"I feel it too." said the young one. "We have to… to…" she looked up to the moon for answers. Her companion shifted her wings again, 

"Find him. Bring him back. He has waited in imprisonment long enough. It's time that we returned him to his rightful place as ruler," the winged one continued. "Make him great again." 

"You've always been a sucker for him, haven't you?" said a rough and scratchy voice. She whipped around and sneered at him, her fangs nearly glowing from the reflected light. 

"Silence, before I rip out your tongue…" she snapped. 

"Temper, temper, sweetie." 

"Don't call me that, you cur." 

"Enough!" said the cruel one. They ceased their arguing. "We must set out at once…" 

"What must we do?" asked the young one. The commander laughed. 

"We must find the 4 Black-winged relics. When we find _them_, we will find _him._" 

"How do we know if it's really _him_?" 

"We will know." 

"Really now?" 

"Yes. Now go. We have work to do." The five of them respectively left through the newly created hole in the castle wall. They left the deserted castle in their respective ways and only the silence and the remnants of the seals were left to tell of their presence. 


	2. Challenge

**Insidiae**  
Written by : TeddysFromHeyll  
Rating: PG 13  
Type: Romance, Action/Adventure  
Category: Kingdom hearts  
Status: Non-yaoi (not anti-yaoi), KairixSora  
Other couples: Undecided - we will see how things develop.  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Summary: Keyblade master and company encounter a new threat from the distant past. But in the mean time, the gang finds out that Sora's losing more than just hope. He's losing his heart and sinking deeper into the darkness. Can Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy and the gang bring him back before they lose him completely?   
  
Chapter 2: Sora is sent an irrefutable challenge within his only sanctuary from the outside world- his dreams. Meanwhile, other familiar faces are returning and realizing that perhaps that the worst is yet to come.   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
AN: I am aware that I have informed what few readers I may have that I would post weekly. I was 'on a roll' yesterday, so I thought, 'Why not?' and I slapped this up here. I think that my style/writing has deteriorated a bit, unfortunately. Ah well, I hope you enjoy my story none the less.   
  
2nd note: Would there be any volunteers for some pretty experienced Beta readers willing to help me proofread and sometimes edit/contribute some ideas to improve my writing/story out there, would there? Outline of the basic story is already written, but it's a free-for-all when it comes to the fluff in the middle.  
  
[[ This fiction was written without any outside influence. This means that it is based on my ideas and my ideas alone. Any similarities between this fic and others are purely coincidence. ]]   
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  


Chapter 2 :   
Challenge

A thousand heartless. 

No. 

More than that… 

More than he had ever seen before in his life. 

"…Tell me." He said. His eyes darted across the mass of moving blackness. 

Searching. 

All of them marching mechanically past him, all eyes facing forward into a black abyss. A fierce wind was blowing and Sora had to scream above the wind to be heard. 

"Tell me, damn it!" he cried again. _I wonder what I'm doing, _he thought to himself. He felt something in his hand, but it wasn't a keyblade. It was heavier. And he knew it was a weapon. But he didn't look down to see. He wanted to, but he turned elsewhere. 

To his left where a figure was on a small piece of uplifted land across from the one he was standing on. 

He was in a dark place. A purple sky. Clouds poisoning the world with their rain. The grass beneath him sick and dying. 

And then there was the heartless. A whole army of heartless marching forward to an unknown destination. 

The man leading them. Laughing as they followed his every word. Completed his every whim. 

"I'm getting scared now," he said aloud, but not loud enough for anyone but himself to hear. The wind was still loud enough for his voice to be drowned out. 

"I know you are." Sora's heart skipped a beat. 

"I want to know who you are!" he cried at the stranger. The man only laughed. 

Sora's eyes opened with a start. He sighed- he was covered in a cold sweat so he rolled onto his side, desperate to keep himself from feeling sick. He shoved his face deeper into the pillow and prayed that he'd just fall back asleep again. A dreamless sleep. 

What had that just been? _Nightmare, _he told himself as he stared at the tanned ceiling above his head. It was more comforting to occupy one's mind with senseless chatter than to reflect on something unpleasant. His best way of coping was to forget about it and hope it would go away. A few years ago, he would have laughed it off and conquered his fears over his head's silly little musing in a flash. 

But it wasn't a few years ago. It was now. And he didn't like the feeling that he had grown weaker instead of stronger. It meant he would have to challenge himself again. 

And he was a coward now. 

"G'mornin, Sora," said Goofy, taking a bite of the apple he held in his gloved hand. Sora sat up in bed, but didn't speak. Talking in the morning took so much effort. 

His mouth was clamped shut with laziness and he didn't bother to use a lot of effort to keep himself up. He fell back against his pillow and shut his eyes again. The pillow almost seemed to invite him to sleep an hour more, letting him sink deeper into it. 

"Sora, time to get up. You know how bad it is to sleep in late. It messes up your internal clock, you know," Goofy said. The Inn's beds were top notch. They were the best beds he was able to sleep on for a long time and Sora sure wasn't in a hurry to jump out and start his morning routine. 

The four of them had been traveling aimlessly, staying at Inns all over the place. So the three of them pretty much had a good idea the range of quality the Inns provided to its customers. 

It was one of the only benefits to be traveling abroad. Knowledge of the world outside of their own. But one of the more unfortunate circumstances was that they weren't sure what to look for. Any remote clue to finding the two they had originally set out to rescue. 

Mickey and Riku. But they just ended up with a farewell letter, a dog and enough munny to last them a few more days. 

Days turned to weeks. Weeks to months. And months to years, they finally turned to citizens willing to pay for the extermination of 'creatures.' It didn't prove much of a challenge as it should have, though. The heartless were much weaker now that their source of power was gone. 

Sora sighed. He didn't want to leave the luxury of his bed just yet. Not unless there was something more important, anyway. In the mean time, he could just lay there and just let his mind fall comfortably back into sleep. 

Unfortunately, his mind insisted on being stubborn and his eyes kept wanting to open by themselves. This was the restless anxiousness of one who knows that there are things to be done. 

He groaned at the stubbornness of both Goofy and the workaholic that resided someone in his head. 

"What're you doing?" he mumbled into the pillow. There was a loud clatter and a chain of clinks and clanks that accompanied Goofy's cry of pain. Sora opened his left eye to see Goofy under a large pile of their belongings. 

"I'm packin' things for when we set out again," said Goofy slowly. Pluto stirred at the foot of his bed from the loud noise. Sora wiggled his toes and Pluto woke up. He groggily glared at Sora and moved off his feet, only to slump onto his chest. Sora sighed and Goofy laughed at the sight. Pluto sniffed in disapproval as Sora gently pushed him off the bed. 

"Sorry, Pluto. If you don't get off now, I don't think I'll have the reserve to get myself up later," he told Pluto. Pluto only circled the square blanket on the wooden floor a couple of times before settling down and falling back asleep. 

He wished enviously that life could be like Pluto's: A dog's life was a simple one. Eat, sleep and chase your own tail. Simple indeed. A lot simpler than his anyway. 

"So what's the agenda today, Goofy?" Sora asked, grabbing his pack and pulling out his toothbrush and some toothpaste. He headed into the bathroom to wash up. He nearly had to feel and grope his way to the bathroom, his eyes blurry from sleep. 

"Well, we're heading back to the ruins to get rid of another group. It's pretty small so we shouldn't have too much trouble," he called to Sora from the small table. 

"'Eerghugh Gonagh?" he asked, toothbrush in his mouth. 

"He went to go look at the shops back in town. Should be back soon. Wanted to see if there was anything we could use," he replied. And speak of the devil, the door opened to reveal Donald. He wore a distinct scowl on his face and the telltale plik-plak of him stomping into the room was a dead giveaway that he didn't find what he needed. 

"Nothing- absolutely nothing," muttered Donald as he trudged into the room. There was the sound of Sora spitting into the sink before he called, 

"What's up Donald?" 

"Went to the shops to see if there were any good weapons." 

"Whadja find?" 

"What I said before- nothing," said Donald. He walked over to the table and picked up an apple as well. He hadn't had breakfast that morning and he was famished. The sound of him biting into the crisp fruit floated over to Sora's ears and immediately his stomach grumbled. "Our weapons are better by far. The workmanship on the weapons we have are a hundred… no thousand times better than the junk they strapped together at the shop. I feel sorry for the dupe who is stupid enough to fall for such poor excuses for weapons." 

"Oh, well that sucks. We'll probably have better luck when we jump worlds. Say, what's for breakfast? We got anything besides fruit?" asked Sora. Goofy and Donald both uttered an ironic 'No.' 

"To think- we saved the universe a year ago. Now what are we doing? Scrounging for food and starving to death, that's what," he said to them. They gave an affirmative nod. "I think I'd rather starve to death and end it all rather than live off of the same things day, after day, after day." 

Sora noticed their lack of reply and strained his ears to listen to what they were doing. He detected just the slightest sound of whispering in the other room and he found himself obligated to hear their hushed chatter. No doubt he was probably the focus of their conversation. 

"Why don't you ask him already? It isn't really that hard. And anyway, you're the one who came up with the idea," Donald said to Goofy. Goofy was probably shaking his head no and waving his hands in front of him defensively. 

"I don't know- should we really?" asked Goofy. "I mean, it seems kind of… rude, doesn't it?" 

"It's not rude! It's just an honest question!" Donald replied. Goofy scratched his head and gulped. Sora raised an eyebrow before splashing his face with cold water to better wake himself up. _This is gonna be good._ He thought sarcastically to himself. 

"Hey- um… Sora?" called Goofy. Sora grunted in reply for him to continue, still running water across his face. "Me and Donald were thinkin- (ow!) –actually _I_ was just thinkin…" 

"What is it?" asked Sora. He could wait all day. 

"You wanna leave?" asked Goofy simply. Sora blinked several times before tilting his head. 

"What made this come up?" asked Sora. He watched Goofy and Donald briefly glance at one another before replying. 

"Well, it's just that we've been here for a few months now and…" 

"Shouldn't we do the job over at the ruins first? We do need the pay, don't we?" Sora interrupted. For some reason, he found it a tad bit annoying of them to concern themselves about his well being. Was he really that helpless? Did they really expect him to fall to pieces that easily? No, it wasn't like that. It was just that sometimes, he just needed to … break down a little bit… that was all. 

"We do need the pay, but it's entirely up to you. You just seem to be down as of late and we were wondering whether you were feeling anxious to get out of here. Maybe you want to move on to the next world or something…" said Goofy. Sora shrugged indifferently and walked back into the washroom. 

"I don't know. If we really do need the pay, then I think it's probably best we stay a bit longer. Just until we get the job done at least… Takes more than that to get me down, guys. You don't need to worry about me- I'll be fine," he told them. "And I think I might want to stay in this place just a little bit longer. Maybe take some time to enjoy ourselves rather than jumping from world to world every two seconds. We might need this." 

The two didn't answer. Sora looked himself in the mirror, "Besides… This place reminds me of Destiny Islands." _And I want to hold it close to me as long as I possibly can._

A powerwild swiped at his feet, but he was able to dodge it by jumping back. The next moment, he was thrown forward when an air soldier slammed into him from behind. He hit the dirt and the wind was knocked out of him hard. 

He rolled to the side and leapt to his feet. Even if he didn't have weapons, he still could defend himself. He threw his legs forward and crashed into an incoming air soldier. The two collided and he smirked as the blow was deflected. He landed on his two feet, preparing for the next attack- wherever it would come from. But as he placed his feet on the ground, he felt himself falling backwards until he was in the exact state he started in: on his back. 

He cursed the banana peel he had slipped on as another air soldier made an attack. 

"Riku!" Mickey cried and he instantly felt rejuvenated as a curaga was casted over him. The King was quick to follow up second spell of blizzaga and the majority of the heartless vanished with the conclusion of his spell. Riku sighed in relief as Mickey took out the remaining enemies with single blows with of the keyblade. 

The two finished the battle panting and gasping for air. Riku's knees gave out from under him while Mickey was satisfied to lean on a tree nearby. 

"What's going on?" asked Riku after he caught his breath. His muscles were sore, and he didn't have the strength to even pretend that his chest didn't burn in protest. Mikey wasn't in as bad a shape as he was, but he definitely seemed like he was feeling the effects of battle. "I thought we were in…" Riku trailed off, unaccustomed to using his voice in such a long time. 

"We were," Mickey said, gripping the keyblade tightly. Riku coughed and gave him a questioning look. 

"One minute we're both floating in the darkness, and then the next thing I know, the both of us are in this damned forest trying to fight off the heartless. Just what's that supposed to mean to me?" Riku muttered to him. King Mickey sighed and put away his keyblade. Riku felt a pang of sorrow, being unable to weild the keyblade now that it was in the King's possession. But he brushed aside his jealousy, suddenly remembering that it was one of the more unfortunate reasons he had gotten himself in that whole mess in the first place. It was because of his heart. It never was as strong as Sora's, was it? _I may have had the higher score, but you always seemed to have it where it mattered._

"We weren't supposed to come back," Mickey said darkly. Riku raised an eyebrow, in sudden remembrance of the truth. They had spoken before they decided to close the door. He told Riku that once they closed the door behind them, they wouldn't be able to turn back. That it was something that they'd have to live with for an eternity- or however long the darkness chose to keep hold on their souls. 

Riku shuddered, "I know that. You don't have to remind me." 

"You don't understand, Riku. We weren't supposed to come back at all. We were supposed to die in there. The both of us had strong hearts, so we lingered in the darkness longer than we were supposed to. But eventually the darkness was supposed to destroy us." Riku looked away from his eyes. He couldn't stand talking about this kind of thing. He hated looking people in the eye. It felt almost like they could see through him- see everything about him. His darkest secrets. 

"Then why are we out here in the real world?" asked Riku. 

"I'm not sure. But I think we still have a purpose. There may be some higher powers at work, but my intuition tells me that we're still needed here. Someone's in trouble and we need to come to their aide. I can feel someone calling to us even now." Riku almost laughed had he not suddenly felt a faint tug on the strings of his heart. It was almost as if his body was itching to go somewhere- do something important- do anything from keeping still. 

The feeling passed from him a moment later and he relaxed, "What purpose could we possibly serve here. As depressing as this sounds, I'd understand you coming back. But me- I'm the reason for-." 

"I'm not surprised you think that way. This is not entirely your fault. Everything happens for a purpose. And I know what you're thinking- Don't think of this as a charity case. Think of it as a chance to redeem yourself to whatever chose to spare your life from the darkness," he replied. "A chance to right the wrongs you did to the others in the past. Your heart will know what to do." 

Riku chuckled to himself and found an interesting spot in the dirt to stare at. "Sorry, your majesty, but I don't think I'd be able to take that from someone who has as strong a heart as you do," he said ironically. Mickey stopped in his speech and turned to him, 

"If you had a weak heart, you would have been consumed _long_ ago." And there was something in his voice that seriously forced Riku to raise his eyes and look straight into Mickey's. "Someone close to you needs your help. Don't lose their future in an attempt to grieve over your past. I know it's hard right now to accept the things that you've done, but please don't give up hope for yourself. It's never too late to mend the heart." He looked the King over a number of times. How could someone be so self assured? 

It was Mickey who turned away this time. Riku's eyes never left the King, "Where to, majesty?" 

"Please, call me Mickey," he told Riku. He didn't answer the previous question, but did start making his way forward along the dirt path beneath them. Riku reluctantly pulled himself up off the ground and quickened his pace to catch up with the mouse. 

"Hey, Maj… er… Mickey," Riku asked the King. Mickey gave a small, "Mm," in reply, urging him to ask his question. Riku scratched the back of his head and hesitated before saying, "Why were we so weak back there? The two of us were pretty strong… we should have been able to take them out easy. Even _if_ I didn't have a keyblade to fight with…. I don't get it." 

The tip-tapping of their shoes on the path was suddenly louder than Mickey's voice as he said, "We were confined in the darkness for a long time. If anything, the heartless should have been able to take _us_ out…. Riku, though the heart can heal and mend with time, the heart can also only take so much before it shatters." Riku was rendered speechless. Whatever higher power was at work, Riku didn't like it in the slightest. He'd rather feel as if he had control over his own destiny. Even if it meant siding with the darkness to keep from feeling helpless. 

"Mending the heart…" he said to himself, "…_my_ heart." It sounded good to him. Even if he wasn't really worth the effort. 

_I've got to, _he told himself. _It's the only thing I got left._

Sora and the others didn't have very much luck at the ruins. Apparently, there wasn't anything to be found but a paranoid civilian willing to pay plenty of money to get rid of his delusions of the 'creatures that lurked in the night.' Only one or two heartless roamed about the broken buildings and those were already weak from wandering so long without a heart to sustain their ghostly forms. 

The civilian had been so insistent that they get rid of the heartless in the ruins. But the three were convinced that he was seeing things. There was simply nothing there but shadows that fell on the weathered stone when the moon rose at night. 

Real shadows? Yes. Heartless? No. 

But by the time the three of them had realized this, night had already fallen. They had no choice but to set up camp where they were. Sora didn't complain. He wasn't exactly in the mood to make his way all the way back to the town- even if they did have comfortable beds. 

He gazed deeply into the quiet flames, almost hypnotized by the dancing fingers of orange and red. Idle chatter between them had died down quite a while ago, and Sora was content to listen to the crickets chirping in the warm night. The skies were clear and the crystalline forms of the stars were bright and pure. 

And he was overflowing with the most potent feel of nostalgia. It left a small burning in his chest and an ache for the sight of Destiny islands where Kairi was hopefully waiting for him to return. The chain with the small crown-shaped pendant rested perfectly in his fingers. He could even feel its warmth through his glove. 

_Wait…_ he said to himself. _That burning in … my chest… isn't…_ he thought to himself. He widened his eyes as the burning sensation turned into pinpricks 

_Sora…_a foreign voice rasped within his mind. _Sorraaa…_

He felt his body tense. Was he hearing things?  
_I've found you…_ It laughed at him. 

Without warning, the uncomfortably pinpricks became piercing knives against his heart. He clutched desperately at his chest, only able to writhe silently at his shirt as the painful wrenching in his heart continued. 

His lips muttered a cry for help but no sound left his mouth. 

_Donald…!_ He cried in his head, unable to breathe in and summon the strength to wake his companions. _Goofy… help me. _ He threw his arm out to the side, stretching for the small pile of equipment that lay just beyond his reach. If he couldn't call for help, then would he be able to make enough noise to call their attention? His fingers just barely brushed against it, but immediately the touch seemed to send him into another round of painful throbbing. 

He gasped for air, but it still wasn't enough to call out for help. 

_I won't give in!!_ he cried desperately. _I won't let you win!_

Then, as if hearing his refusal to submit, the pain rose from his body and disappeared into the night air. The exhausted Sora brought his knees up to his chest to ease the dull pain that was left behind to haunt him. His eyes focused only long enough to see the dying tips of the fire go out before his consciousness followed suit. He fell into a restless sleep. 

He knew he was dreaming when he rose from the earth and stood to face the same man from his earlier vision. The skies were purple again, but the army that marched forward before was gone. Nothing could be seen but the destruction left by their endless journey. 

"I know it's you…" Sora said defiantly. He brought forward his keyblade and jumped back into a low fighting position. He watched as the wind threatened to pull off the hood and reveal the identity of the stranger. "I know that you're trying to get to me. I'm not letting you do whatever you want. I'm going to stop you, whatever it is you want!" 

"Silence," whispered the stranger. The wind died down to follow his command. Both Sora's mind and body did as well and found that his only weapon was the keyblade and the undying courage that raged like a fire in his heart. 

A twig snapped beside him and he found the familiar presence of Ansem himself. He watched Sora with a mocking grin but it only made the courage grow even brighter under the scientist's gaze. Sora's eyes darted back and forth between the cloaked figure and Ansem, prepared to engage either enemy in battle, refusing to give in to either. 

He stepped back cautiously, suddenly aware of a cliff that materialized behind him. The cliff gave away under his foot and he nearly fell into the black abyss below. The clatter of the stones against the sides of the cliff echoed hollow in his ears. 

Ansem reached over to grab Sora, and he swung his keyblade defensively. Sora fell into complete shock as Ansem's strong fingers wrapped around the keyblade to halt his attack. He poured all his strength into pushing back Ansem, but his confidence wavered when Ansem easily took a step forward against his grip. 

"You already know who _I_ am," Ansem said. And Sora felt his eyes pierce deep within his own- probing, searching and destroying. "But do you know who this man here is?" Ansem motioned to the cloaked stranger. 

The keyblade burned to the touch and Sora jerked his hands away from the weapon. 

"What the-," Sora cried as Ansem lifted the Keyblade and held it over the cliff in a challenging gesture. 

"Give it back," Sora said. He wasn't sure quite what he thought he could do about it, but he was practically on the verge of panic. Any moment now, he expected himself to tackle Ansem- anything to keep him from dropping the keyblade into the ravine. 

"Do you know who this man is?" Ansem insisted. Sora shook his head, terrified of the implications. Ansem opened his fingers and let the keyblade drop. Sora cried out in protest so Ansem quickly reached out once more and grabbed it before it fell. He held it over the cliff. "Do you know, Sora?" 

"Stop it!" cried Sora. "I don't know, I don't know, _I don't know!_" His hands raised to cover his ears against the infernal hum of their voices in his head. Sora felt his hood slip lower off his head, but he didn't reach to bring it up again. 

"Oh, sure you do!" Ansem said, "You know very much who this man is." 

"I-I don't!" Sora said again, but with less conviction as the prior reply. This time, he was attempting to deny more so than to declare. _Stop it! My mind is my own! I will not admit defeat!_

"But what about your heart Sora? If you won't answer who he is, then will you answer this? Is your _heart_ your own?" 

"Yes…" Sora whispered. Ansem laughed, but Sora didn't move to stop him as he once again let the keyblade fall from his hand. He watched numbly as the keyblade tumbled into the darkness. There was an emptiness within him that was growing with every tick of some imaginary clock that hung above their heads. The hand of the clock clattered noisily. 

"Who is he!?!" Ansem growled at Sora in a mangled shout. Sora faced the hooded figure and reached to pull off his own hood. The shadow followed his movements almost like a mirror. As Sora had expected, he faced a copy of himself. But he wasn't afraid any longer. Now it was just… empty. His courage was dying like the last desperate embers of what the raging fire used to be. 

Sora shook his head, still unable to turn away from the mirrored image of himself, "I don't want to know." 

"As long as he remains, I will always lay dormant in the depths of the darkness. I will never die. I will only return with renewed retribution," Ansem said to Sora. Sora felt something tugging at his arms and feet. He reached over numbly with his left hand over to his right. A string was pulling at his right hand. _What is that? What's it… where's the string going? _A string was pulling at his left. _It's going up. Being held up. _Another two his legs. _Me? I'm being…_

The strings remained loose, but he could feel the knowledge of being a marionette burning deep into the back of his own mind. 

Another string looped around his neck tightened. He didn't struggle. He only let the ground beneath him inch away from his feet. 

The more it inched away, the tighter the loop became. 

A spotlight clicked on from above and darkness fell like a curtain over his other surroundings. Now it was only him, the spotlight and the unknown puppet master pulling gently at his strings. The puppet master spoke in a reassuring tone. 

"In the time of peace you have forgotten me. I've been sealed away, but it's all right. I haven't forgotten you. Wait for me, Sora. I finally understand- I'll bring you back. I'll take you down into the darkness where you belong."

Sora woke from the dream. 

His hands quickly reached for his neck in an attempt to pull off the noose that he thought would linger in wakefulness. His hands found nothing, and he took this time to breathe as deeply as he possibly could. 

_I wont let you take me._ He thought to himself. 

"Ansem…Not without a fight." 

Many thanks to Lost, Sugar Bliss, keyblade-master, sailor taurus and calcite for their support. Much appreciated and very much grateful.


	3. Vows

**Insidiae**  
Written by : TeddysFromHeyll  
Rating: PG 13  
Type: Romance, Action/Adventure  
Category: Kingdom hearts  
Status: Non-yaoi (not anti-yaoi), KairixSora  
Other couples: Undecided - we will see how things develop.  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Summary: Keyblade master and company encounter a new threat from the distant past. But in the mean time, the gang finds out that Sora's losing more than just hope. He's losing his heart and sinking deeper into the darkness. Can Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy and the gang bring him back before they lose him completely?   
  
Chapter 3: As the next day comes to a close, the forces of both good and evil prepare for the impending battle that is to come. The unknown enemy gathers its forces to retrieve their fallen master. Kairi swears to carry out her heart's most precious wish. And finally, Riku fights against not only a group of pillaging heartless, but also against himself in his internal quest for repentance.   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
AN: Hopefully the readers that have decided to follow this story are still with me. I ask for any possible comments (and more so criticisms) for my writing so that I can improve. Flames not appreciated. All flames will be posted, laughed at and used to warm Teddy in the fireplace.  
  
2nd note: Still looking for a second (somewhat experienced) Beta reader that is willing to help me proofread and sometimes edit/contribute some ideas to improve my writing/story out there. As I said before, the outline of the basic story is already written, but it's a free-for-all when it comes to the fluff in the middle. Many thanks to Exitialis who has graciously offered his time to help me improve this fan fiction. *Bows* He will from now on be referred to as Ex-sama by me as a sign of respect and appreciation. 

3rd Note: I hate.... formatting.... =.= please excuse the messed up formatting in this one. It has decided to make my day hell.  
  
[[ This fiction was written without any outside influence. This means that it is based on my ideas and my ideas alone. Any similarities between this fic and others are purely coincidence. ]]   
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  


Chapter 3 

Vows 

Elsewhere, in the vast reaches of existence, there was another planet where the forces of darkness were manifesting. Civilizations continued without the smallest inkling of what was to happen. Of those, two young men unfortunately found themselves in a fatal confrontation with that darkness. 

One of those nameless young men was standing in front of an old Church ruin. The younger raised his camera to take the next picture he had wanted, but he paused to hear an answer to a question he had asked his older friend earlier. Pete hesitated answering the question. 

"What is it now?" asked Pete, feeling just a bit on edge do to the sudden aura that had settled around the deserted building. The photographer paused and gulped before he was able to continue, 

"Don't they say that this place is cursed- haunted or something like that? Heard a bunch of kids singing that stupid old ghost rhyme the other day. It's really starting to freak me out-" Pete laughed and waved off his paranoia. He internally held his breath, though, seeing there was an electricity in the air that hadn't been there when they arrived. 

In fact, it even felt as if someone was watching them. "Don't worry about it. You know how kids are. They'll say anything and everything just to get some attention… but let's just get out of here as soon as possible." Pete wasn't the kind of person to jump up and cry for help at every turn of his imagination, but the anxious tapping of his foot was a dead giveaway that he was afraid. 

"Pete." Said the photographer. Pete ignored his friend's whining voice. As long as he was going to dawdle about the ruins, the least he could do was leave him to his thoughts. It was bad enough his older brother had forced him to baby-sit the guy. Eventually, though his good nature won out and he answered. 

"What is it, kid?" asked Pete. Pete received no reply and he turned around to find nothing but the ruin itself. He was alone. 

"Hey kid…. Kid…?" he asked. _Where the hell he go now?_ Pete thought to himself. He reluctantly got to his feet and trekked around one of the stone pillars that supported the pile of old stones together. 

"Kiiid!" he called, hollering much louder than he felt he had to. His cries echoed across the meadow surrounding the church and Pete had to come to a halt to suppress the chill that shot down his spine. 

With a grunt he stomped around the corner in front of him. _Hell if I'll let a little wind scare me_, he thought, "I swear to God, kid- you're more trouble than you're worth! I told my brother I'd watch you and that's just what I'm gonna do. I don't need you wandering off like some bleepin' two-year old! Jesus-!" 

He found his legs come to a stop on their own. He watched as the camera dropped from his friend's limp hands. 

The horrible scene unfolding right in front of him stifled any words he may have wanted to say. He could only feel his knees buckle underneath him. He nearly tripped over his own feet, but managed to keep his balance by some miracle. 

"T-Th…!!" he uttered despite not being able to find his voice. A woman called Quise was on the roof watching in amusement as a dark black figure wrenched his hand deep into his friend's chest. It pulled back out to reveal a crystalline heart of blue before he dropped the body of the photographer to the ground. 

"Would you look it here, Janus, dear. More for our friends to play with," said the woman, motioning to Pete. A tall and officious figure rose up behind her and the two of them focused their gazes on Pete. Pete turned and ran, scrambling away as fast as his legs could take him. 

_I'm sorry, kid, but in my book, I come first!_ He thought when the image of his brother's friend came to mind. It was his last conscious thought before another creature came around and tackled him from behind. He became limp as the creature plunged its fist into the body and pulled out the essence of the victim's heart. 

Quise laughed again and folded her wings shortly after lofting to the ground. 

The heartless paused in their takings and stood in awe of her presence. 

"Quise, you are such a tease," the figure said. "Look. Even those slow-witted shadows are amazed by your cruelty. " He motioned to the black figures standing in wait. 

"What are they waiting for- Why are they lookin' at us like that?" asked the younger, reddish figure that bounced into view. 

"They're looking for someone to lead them," said Janus. "In the wake of their master's disappearance, they have wandered astray. But they seek leadership from those who may best drive on the force of destruction." 

"Eh…" the smaller one said, confused. Janus found himself growing impatient at the girl's dense nature. Every other sentence was probably going to be used to explain even the simplest of principles. Wasting his time with the girl was not something he found pleasant. 

"They want someone to tell them what to do…" Janus muttered to the girl. The girl nodded in reply and resumed in her play around her other four companions. 

"This is going to be interesting. Our auras reflect that of darkness- does that mean that they will respond collectively to our demand?" hissed the tall, lanky one. 

Janus nodded, "The heartless, though they seem separate and divided, work together as a group to achieve a common goal. It's hard to believe their souls are that of darkness. Such qualities you often find in the forces of light," He motioned for the shadow to approach him. The shadow didn't hesitate to march to his feet and wait for a command to be issued. Janus abruptly brought his hand down on it and it wailed hauntingly. But it didn't strike back, "Without Ansem, they're helpless. Mindless idiots… however… they retain memories of the past… and thus still remember our auras." 

"Good. It's as we suspected. As for our other business, the trinity is inside of the Church. Once all relics are found, we are to return here," said the final voice. It was low and threatening, "Now it is time that we sought out the Black-Winged Relics. Once we find the relics, we'll be able to return our master to his former glory." The six oddly clad figures retreated inside the Church to assemble their dark forces.

Riku's stomach growled abruptly and Mickey couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's disposition. Riku muttered some words under his breath to curse his fortune, but was careful not to make a fool of himself in front of the King. _The guy's royalty for crying out loud. What better way to make a good impression than to subject him to my bodily functions…_ he thought grimly. 

"I take it you're hungry," Mickey said with a smile. Riku waved his hands in front of him to refuse what he knew was an offer to buy his next meal. Unfortunately his stomach disagreed once more in a low-pitched rumbling. Riku sighed, obviously giving up the attempt to not embarrass himself. It seemed that finding something to eat had once again become one of his top priorities. 

He wanted food. His stomach was burning uncomfortably with hunger, but the only thing that he could comprehend besides that was the sickening smell of dust all over his clothes. It didn't do much for his condition, especially when they had been marching for a day and a half without anything decent to eat or drink. He wasn't sure whether he'd be able to last the day at all. 

"Actually, I think I am hungry now that you mention it," he said. Mickey pointed down the path where the gates of a nearby town came into view. It was such a refreshing sight. "Will we be able to get anything, though?" 

"I'm pretty sure we can go get something to eat in town. But you're right- we don't have any money right now, so it looks like we're going to have to work a little while before we get anything in return," said Mickey. Riku scratched the back of his head and shrugged. 

His thoughts wandered once more and surprisingly found them on the subject of Kingdom hearts. 

The darkness they had escaped... Not even they were sure how it happened. The only thing he remembered was Sora closing the door behind them, and then for the longest time, they found themselves within the darkness itself. 

As Mickey had said to him earlier, they were supposed to die there. 

But he also remembered a soothing blue figure appearing beside him in the darkness and grabbing his hand, leading him to some kind of light. Then, he woke up to find Mickey and himself in a foreign world: outside of Kingdom hearts. 

Something had rescued them. Pulled them out of there, and it was done for a reason. Whoever had saved them had wanted them there so that they could serve a purpose… 

But what could it possibly be? 

"Eh, whatever. A little work won't kill me so it sounds good, I guess," he said trying to get his mind off the grim subject, "Not the best situation I've ever been in, but I guess I can deal with it. Beats searching through the brush n' the trees for grub, that's for sure." He breathed in the gratifying smell of toasted bread that was lofting on the wind. A bakery no doubt was nearby… 

But Riku paused. The aspect of food quickly left his mind. His heart skipped a beat. 

Something didn't feel right to him. The atmosphere didn't seem normal. There was a thickness to it that he had only felt when… 

He narrowed his eyes. 

"The heartless," Riku hissed. Mickey turned to him, a shocked look overcoming his usually composed nature. The two broke into a run towards the town ahead of them, noticing the black smoke that had just begun to billow into the skies above. A sense of controlled panic entered the two and they darted in opposite directions, not having to speak to each other to understand what they needed to do. 

While Mickey ran off into a house in flames, Riku rushed immediately into a building to his right- the weapons shop. The clerk was laying face down on the counter and Riku cringed to see his lifeless and cold body. He hopped over him and pulled one of the lighter, but more wicked swords off the rack. He leapt back over the counter and rushed back outside to face the heartless that had flooded the streets during his weapons run. 

Riku brought forward his sword, hoping that he'd be able to do at least a minute amount of damage to the heartless. He nearly sighed in relief after a small shadow fell under his blade. _They're not invincible at least…_

Mickey stumbled out of the burning building, coughing from the smoke. 

"Find anyone in there?" Riku called over the clamor. Mickey shook his head. They met eyes and nodded to each other. The king turned and darted deeper into the chaotic streets to do battle. 

Moving around wasn't an easy task for either of them. The locals were running in all directions. Others ushered women and children to the gates. The few that had the courage to fight stayed behind and delayed the limitless number of heartless that assaulted the town. Each of them were falling slowly but surely- one by one. 

Riku rushed forward, memories of his battle with Sora resurfacing. The power he inherited from Ansem's merge surged through him and he thrust himself forward with a flurry of swipes to the unsuspecting heartless. Several of them disappeared in his wake. 

He crashed into an angel star and cursed as it blocked his attack with its impenetrable wings. 

A lightning bolt showered down around him and he nearly cried out as the electricity wracked through his body. He came out unscathed, and awaited its next move. To his _own_ surprise, he found that he could actually predict when the angel star would react and reveal himself. So with a deadly precision, he brought his sword in an uppercut and shattered his enemy. 

A sudden cry from his left stole his attention. A child was tugging at her own foot, which had gotten caught under some debris from the crumbling shop behind her. An air soldier pinned her to the ground and reached into her chest to steal away her heart. Riku tackled the heartless and the girl gasped as the soldier released its grip on her spirit. In all the scrambling, her foot was twisted in such a way that she managed to get it out from under the mess. 

The heartless' goggles shattered as Riku drove it into the ground as they landed. He thrust his sword deep into its body and ripped it out violently, relieved to see that it gone in a cloud of vapors. 

He continued fighting on with a vengeance, angry as hell to see the heartless destroying what he knew was a peaceful town. Of course, he knew he couldn't continue when the child he had saved earlier clutched onto his left leg for dear life. Riku wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't just shove her away… but he had wanted to keep fighting. 

"H-hey," Riku awkwardly tried to calm her. The girl only hollered and sobbed louder for her mother. Riku growled in frustration at himself for his inability to react. Oh, he could handle the heartless just fine. It was the little brats he called kids that he couldn't stand. "Hhheeeyyyy!" 

She rubbed her wet face into his pant leg and started crying even harder. Riku's eyes widened and he nearly laughed out loud from the odd spots on his calf that she was grabbing at. 

"K-k-kii-iidd!! That…that really… tickles- ah- _HEY_! Hey!!" If Sora had been able to see it, Riku was almost positive that he'd be laughing his head off. He himself was on the verge of bursting into hysterical laughter from the sheer randomness of the situation. 

He rolled his eyes as a bandit sensed his helplessness. It drew back and Riku had to dive forward (with the child still latched onto his leg) to dodge the flying sword. "Damn it!" he cried in frustration. The two swords between them collided as the bandit caught the sword and ran forward to attack. The two reached a deadlock. 

He sighed in relief as Mickey came up from behind and finished it off. Riku waved appreciatively, but motioned to the child. "What've we got here?" asked Mickey, turning to him after taking out another shadow. He looked down at the young girl, "I think it might be best we send her off with one of the fleeing townspeople. The more people we have out of the town when we fight, the better." 

"Got that right… but I can't…" he tried to pry her hands of hiss leg but only succeeded in making her angry. 

"Nooo!" she cried, clutching even harder. 

"What do we do!?" Riku asked. Mickey knelt down low and brought his face down to hers. 

"Hi there, little miss? How are you doing- are you all right?" asked Mickey. The girl ceased in her crying and cautiously eyed the mouse. She silently nodded and Mickey held out his hand. "It's not safe for you to be out here while all these… animals… are running loose. Do you know where your mother is?" The girl shook her head and Mickey looked around, as if his surroundings held the answer to his question. 

"That's going to be a problem. Well, you definitely can't stay here with us…" said Mickey. "Riku, hold on a sec." He quickly caught the attention of one of the men running nearby. The man stopped in his frantic duties of ushering out the citizens and found himself humbled in Mickey's presence. Riku watched in awe as the man obediently followed him back after some simple instructions. Mickey knelt down once more, "This nice man here can take you out of town and he's going to help you find your mother. You think you can let go of Riku's leg now? He has something he needs to do for me." He motioned to the man and the man eagerly lifted her into his arms. The girl's eyes lingered on Riku a moment before they disappeared into the chaos that was occurring around them. 

Riku stood up from the ground and dusted himself off. 

"Come on, Riku… we've got a lot of work to do," Mickey said. 

Kairi was dreaming. She knew it had to be, because she could see herself on the battlefield. It was a war. Dreams were always like that, she told herself. And she let the dream take her on its course.

She looked on as an armor clad version of herself approached the man with the fiercest look of hate her comrades had ever seen. She tightened her sword and prepared for her enemy to make the first move. They stood mere feet away from each other and she could already feel the tension. The man only smiled at her furious outcry, "Strike!" He didn't falter in continuing the standstill between them. "Strike, I said! Strike and I'll show you just what Kairi can do!" she tried again. He didn't react to her threat. He brought up his sword and rested the flat side of it gently against his shoulder, tapping rhythmically against his shoulder guard.

The sounds of battle that filtered through her concentration closed in around her and she found her feet itching to move. _No!_ she thought to herself. _I will stand my ground! I won't give him the pleasure of forcing me to make the first move. My will is stronger than his! Has and always will be!_

"Fair maiden, why has such a beautiful one such as yourself chosen the blood-stained ground of battle?" he said in a false accent. He was completely oblivious to the combat taking place all around the two. Her face flushed with warmth, but she held back the urge to smile. This was serious. A little flattery from the enemy wasn't going to work on her. She was going to kill him, and that was that. He was the reason the whole damned war came knocking on her doorstep. He brought the war to her homeland. 

"That's none of your concern," Kairi snapped back. "And don't think that just because I'm a girl that I'll fall to your feet and confess love to you. And don't for one second think that just because I'm a girl, I'm weaker than you either. I guarantee that you will die by my own hand!" 

"So angry too!" the man said to himself. He crouched low to the ground as if he might any moment reach down and trace invisible designs in the red dirt beneath his feet. "Such a shame…You look like you'd make such a nice girlfriend." 

"Stop that!" cried Kairi. The man turned to her with a charming grin. Kairi drew back in surprise. The man she had despised for the past three years had turned out to be nothing but a young boy of seventeen- not much older than herself. 

"What? Stop what? I'm not doing anything in particular. If anything, you're the only one who seems to have your own agenda. I don't see any of _your_ friends screaming and hollering about dying and such. They're all focused on the moment of conflict. They've got no time for such trivial matters. It's life or death for them. _You_ seem to have no reason to live other than fighting me," said the boy. He watched her frustrated breathing and sighed. "… Geeze. You really do seem so set on fighting me. Might as well get it over with, right?" 

"Just who do you think you are!?" Kairi said, "Talking to me like we're playing games! I'm not playing games- I'm set on destroying you because you destroyed my whole world! My family, friends… my _way of life_!! I'm not letting you get away with treating this like some kind of …kind of…." 

"Game?" offered the boy. 

"Yes!" shouted Kairi, tears on the verge of spilling down her delicate cheeks, "I've lived in fear ever since you showed your face. I've _lived_ for the past three years… training, fighting and searching. I've waited three years for just this moment. So shut your mouth. You don't know anything. You haven't seen the carnage that your war has brought. Your ignorance makes me sick…" 

"What makes you think I haven't seen all of it," said the boy suddenly. His disarming grin was gone and in its place was a nostalgic one. "Maybe… maybe the whole reason I'm doing this… is _because _of what I know. What I've seen." 

Kairi unconsciously lowered her weapon in response to his answer, "What do you mean?" 

"You wouldn't understand," he said. He shook his head and took a deep, cheerful breath of the stale air. "But you wanted to kill me remember?" Kairi's face turned red. 

"Of course I do!" she said angrily, "It doesn't matter to me the reasons. It only matters to me that you have to die. I won't live knowing that you've died any other way. I hate you so much…" 

"Is that so," he said. He sent her a look that nearly scared Kairi out of her wits. It was an instant change and it threw off her concentration. It was one of both resentment, anger and cruel intent. Then, without warning, the boy was inches away from her face, her right hand, confined within his grasp. He brought forward his blade and set his first attack into motion. She didn't move as the blade pierced soft flesh. Kairi's eyes were widened in shock. 

"Impossible…" she whispered. The boy withdrew his blade and Kairi collapsed to the ground. He was faster than anything she had ever seen before. 

He looked down at the soldier he had struck down behind her, "You are not to touch her, fool." 

"Why…" Kairi asked suspiciously. The boy fell lazily to his knees beside her and released his grip on her wrist. It was sore under such a strong hold. She cradled it in her lap. 

"Why didn't I kill you? Why did I kill one of my own? Why did I protect you?" asked the boy. 

Kairi nodded and gave a small reply of, "All of it." 

"Because someone who doesn't have the eyes of a soldier… someone who's only looking for death…" he said to her. He gently leaned in and kissed her crimson red lips. Kairi didn't resist. She only let him deepen the kiss. "…doesn't deserve to die." 

He rose to his feet and held out his hand for her to take. Kairi didn't know what to do. Why couldn't she hate him any more? She only stared at his gloved fingers. "Take my hand, Kairi! That's your name right? Kairi?" She nodded numbly. "Take my hand and I'll teach you how to live!" His face was so bright and cheerful that even the sun seemed to dim in his presence. This boy couldn't be the general she hated for so long. How could she possibly kill him now? 

"I have a life…" 

"It doesn't matter! Please, Kairi, I can show you what it means to be _alive!_" he said. Kairi didn't breathe. 

"Who are you? How could you have possibly…" All her hatred was gone. She wasn't sure how, but there was just something about the boy that she just couldn't bring herself to refuse. 

"My name? The people call me Loki… but you…" he said. She brought her slender fingers into his palm and they closed affirmatively around hers. She was lifted eagerly to her feet and she met his eyes with what the boy knew was a glimmer of life. 

"…you can call me Sora." 

And that's when the rays of the morning sun shifted and warmed her skin. The sounds of battle faded away to the soft flowing of waves that accompanied the ocean. She felt safe under the rays of the sun. She opened her eyes and found Tidus, Wakka and Selphie hovering over her, eagerly waiting for her to awaken. She stretched her arms out and flipped onto her back, "What time is it guys? How long have I been out?" Selphie pushed her to her feet and rested her hand on Kairi's shoulders. 

"You've been asleep for about two hours now. You're going to be _so_ sunburned tomorrow! I guarantee it!" she laughed. "You were supposed to meet us at the sand bar down by the dock about twenty minutes ago." 

"We started to worry- you're usually on time for everything," Tidus broke in. He had his infernal little stick with him as well- the one that he called a 'sparring staff.' It was the one he always used when Sora would come down to fool around with the gang. Kairi sighed and her mind wandered back to a few moments before. 

"I had such a weird dream," Kairi said to them. The trio exchanged apprehensive expressions, but both Selphie and Tidus halted anything they had wanted to say. It was Wakka this time though, who spoke up for the majority of Kairi's friends. 

"Was it about Sora again? Because if it was, that's not really healthy, ya know?" he said. She could feel her anger rising with every word. Kairi glared daggers at him and waved him off. Wakka nearly darted behind Selphie for self defense, but Kairi made no move to hit him. She only turned her back to them and crossed her arms. 

"Oh don't start this up again. I've told you a hundred times before, I cant help it! It's not like I'm trying to!" she told them. "I can't help what comes to me when I dream. It already hurts, and you guys are only making it worse!" Selphie walked forward and quickly tried to dismiss her claims. 

"Kairi, no! We're not trying to say that you're going this on purpose!" Selphie defended herself. The other two boys nodded in support. "It's just that… well… shouldn't you move on already? I mean, this whole ordeal with the gates-" 

"Keyholes," Kairi corrected. Selphie continued, unfazed by her interruption. 

"Keyholes, whatever. And with the keyblade and that Ansem guy, the heartless the … gummi… ship- everything… doesn't it seem a little farfetched?" asked Selphie. Kairi crossed her arms and gave her an incredulous look. "Don't take it wrong, though! We believe you, we really do. It's just that, well, its not something we hear every day." 

"And don't tell me it isn't healthy because I couldn't help it this time," Kairi started. Her features softened. "I just really miss those two. They're gone. Shouldn't that be enough for you to believe me? No word of good-bye. No knowledge from their parents. No one knows where they are. They couldn't have just disappeared- so why is it so hard to believe that this really happened?" 

"Well, put yourself in our shoes, Kairi," said Tidus quietly. Kairi didn't answer. She looked up to the cloudless sky and the memory of his smile suddenly appeared in her mind. She giggled to herself. 

"Sora was always so silly…" she said. "… with that stupid grin of his…No matter what I did, he always managed to make me feel better when I was down… just by showing me his stupid grin." Kairi sat down by the water and let the water run over her toes. Selphie sat behind her and motioned her to lay her head in her lap. 

"Tell us what it was about." The others followed silently and found places on either side of her. 

"What, the dream?" Kairi asked. Selphie nodded. 

"Dreams are ways to tell something about yourself. There are symbols in the dream and you can always find something new when you analyze it. Just got the book two weeks ago and I already memorized half of it…" she gave a small victory gesture and gave her trademark smile. 

"I remember being in red armor. And I was in a war- everyone was fighting around me. But I was ignoring everyone else because I wanted to kill just one person because he killed my family or something. He didn't kill them himself, but he commanded an army. Thousands and thousands of people fighting and dying around me, but I was flat out convinced that I wanted to hurt this person," said Kairi. Selphie nodded. Tidus stood up and said, "I'll leave all this girl talk to you guys. Love to stay, but this sounds like it's getting kind of personal. Hey Wakka, wanna go play some Blitz??" Wakka shot to his feet.

"It's about time, ya know!" the two darted out to sea, blitzball in hand. 

"Never mind them. Now you don't have to hold back anything because now it's just you and little old Selphie. Shoot, Kairi," she said. 

"Anyway, I confronted him and at first I hated him. But the more I talked to him the more I realized that he didn't have the face of a soldier. So I couldn't hate him. Almost like someone lifted the weight of anger off my shoulders and I just couldn't. It doesn't make sense, though. The general may have been Sora, but it takes more than a few words to make someone's hate go away. Things are more complicated than that…" 

Selphie clasped her hands together as if she was prepared to go to work, "Allrighty then! Lessee if I can remember some stuff from the book…" she paused a moment and rested her chin on her palm in deep thought. 

"Red… that means great passion or feelings in your emotional relationships. Aaanndd war means that you'll probably be persecuted in the near future. You'll enter in some kind of journey or something. And since I doubt you're going anywhere any time soon, it probably means that you'll just go on some emotional trials," Selphie looked at Kairi's face and smirked, "And the sword means you're trying to escape something that needs to be addressed. You're avoiding something or trying not to admit something to yourself." Kairi blushed madly, knowing exactly what Selphie was implying. Was she talking about Sora? 

"S-stop that! What are you trying to get at? J-just go on with the dream thing," said Kairi, trying to recover. Selphie only shook her head. Kairi was always like this. 

"There wasn't anything material about shoulder in your dream, but let's just get the meaning out anyway. Shoulder means that even though you may be happy and cheerful, you're carrying some kind of burden. There are problems and stuff around the corner that are awaiting you. But always look up because they'll be taken care of soon." 

Selphie watched her and amusingly found that Kairi was actually smiling to herself. Her cheeks were turning a slight pink. "Either you really _are_ sunburned, or you're thinking about that special someone." 

Kairi nodded, "I don't know what to do anymore. Selphie, whenever I 'm alone, I find myself thinking about Sora. Riku, too, but there's something that just makes me want to stop breathing when I see Sora's smile again. It hurts to think of Sora." 

"I think someone's got a case of the love – bug!" Selphie giggled and Kairi cringed at the thought of her sly and provoking ideas. But she stopped when she noticed that Kairi wasn't trying to deny it. The girl closed her eyes and Selphie sighed and said her next few words softly. They both looked out into the calm sea where Wakka and Tidus were playing. "You know, it's not often that someone gets a real feeling like that. Is it a crush?" 

Kairi shook her head, "I've had crushes before. This isn't one. I've never felt like this before. It's just… different. I just really want to be with him. Have him hold me, feel his hand on my shoulder. Just feel the touch of his skin against mine." 

"If Sora really does come back-," said Selphie. 

"_When_…Sora really does come back-," Kairi corrected. 

"Yeah. When Sora comes back, do me a favor and tell him that you feel this way. You don't have to tell him you lo… like the guy… but just tell him that you want to be around him." 

Kairi laughed as Tidus grabbed the ball, jumped out of the water and waited before Wakka decided to come to the surface before he hurled it at him. It collided against Wakka and the poor boy fell back into the water with a loud splash. 

"I will," promised Kairi. "I swear it."

Riku was happy. He had a full stomach, a warm blanket, and the gentle flames of the fireplace to his left. He hadn't felt that comfortable in… well… a year and a half. 

The day had gone well. Soon after they eliminated the remaining heartless, work turned to putting out the flames of the fires raging around the town and tending to the wounded. Riku had forgotten about his hunger in all the chaos, so when the little girl that he had saved earlier came back with her mother and a warm loaf of bread, he was grateful. He had never been so hungry in his life. 

He looked across the small room where the other bed sat against the wall. Miscellaneous papers and notepads were strewn about on the sheets. The shadows danced across the papers in a mystifying rhythm. 

Mickey had an amazing amount of stamina. Even after everything was taken care of, he still had the hardworking spirit to do even _more_ work. Mickey was busy outside running some errands and looking for some library he kept on ranting about. He said it was real important, and the more that King Mickey spoke about it, the more Riku's interest was being ignited. 

"Riku-sama…" said a small voice. Ria tugged at his pajama pants. They weren't his. They had let him borrow it for the night. It actually belonged to Ria's older brother and it was a little big for him. 

Ria was the little girl he had saved earlier. After everything was over, Riku and Mickey had nowhere to go. Luckily, Ria had volunteered her house for them to stay for the night and her parents were all too happy to have the strangers who saved their daughter accommodated. 

"You don't have to call me that. Just Riku is fine," he said to the girl. The girl only lifted a cup of hot cocoa up to his face. Riku took the steaming cup from her hands. The sweet smell of chocolate reached his nose and he had to close his eyes a moment from sheer habit. Riku pulled the blanket tighter around his form. "Thanks." 

"Mum says that you gotta rest up if yer gonna leave tomorrow. And whatever mum says you gotta do. You don't wanna get her angry. Daddy got Mum angry yesterday and he had to sleep on the couch. Yer lucky. That's where my brother is sleeping right now. It's cold out there. It doesn't have the fireplace like this room does," Ria rambled on. "Do you know what its like outside? Are there all kindsa monsters and stuff? Are you a knight? Do you fight dragons or do you wait until a princess calls you on the phone and asks you to save her?" 

Riku would have laughed if not for the sadness that settled into his chest from her first few questions. His eyes darkened, "If anything, I'm not a knight, Ria." 

"Whadda ya mean? You saved everybody earlier…" she said eagerly. Riku resented her state of mind. If only things really were that simple. Things were so much easier when he was a kid. There were things that he never stopped to think about, let alone deal with. Moreover, back then, he never had the capability to destroy the universe. "Yer definitely a knight! Because knights save people!" 

"Saving people, eh? Maybe I'm just selfish. Maybe I'm trying to find a way to repent," he whispered. Ria's ears perked up and she looked at him funny. Riku was being weird again. Riku was an okay person, except when he started being weird. She didn't like being around Riku when he was weird._ People shouldn't be allowed to be weird, _thought Ria. 

"What did you say? I didn't hear you," she said. 

Riku waved it off with his hand, "Nothing, don't worry about it." A faint voice floated into the room from the kitchen outside. Ria's name was being called by her mother and in a flash, Ria waved good-bye and darted out the door. 

Riku stared into his hot-chocolate. The marshmallows filled half the cup and Riku doubted he'd get any hot chocolate in his first sip. He shrugged and attempted to drink from it anyway. 

"Hey there," said a voice. Riku looked up from his cup and quickly wiped the foam from his lips. 

"Found what you were looking for?" asked Riku. 

"Yes. I did. We were summoned back from the darkness to restore something stored away in several relics. I'm still not sure myself how these will be instrumental in permanently destroying the darkness, but I know for sure that we're not just going to sit here and do nothing." 

"So our whole reason for being alive is to …" 

"Find the Black Trinity and the 4 relics." He said simply. Mickey set down several books down on the bed on top of all the papers. He hopped up onto the bed with the books and flipped open one of them. He spent a couple of minutes flipping through "Hmm..here it is." 

Riku stood from his bed and sat beside Mickey on the other. He ran his fingers along several lines of text. "This is what we're looking for. The Winged relics of Gaia." 

"What is that?" Asked Riku. Mickey turned the page, revealing an intricately drawn picture of a beautiful statue with a single wing. On the opposite page lied another picture, except the second picture was lined in black and obviously had a much darker tone. 

"As you can tell from the picture, this is the White-Winged Relic of Gaia. This other one is the Black-Winged Relic of Gaia. So similar but so different in nature. One is used to purify, and the other is used to destroy or cause people, things and even entire worlds to fall into darkness. There are four relics of each distributed all around the universe. We have to seek out the White winged relic in order to restore some kind of weapon, I'd think, to combat the darkness." 

"But I thought we closed Kingdom hearts. Wasn't that enough?" 

"Well yes. It aided in balancing out the forces. But it only worked to delay the inevitable at this point in time. There's a person or thing that is contributing to the darkness and unless we do something to stop them…. Well, when we find the 4 White-winged relics we must bring them to the Black trinity in order to purify it. Once we do that, everything will fall into place. Or so it says here in the books." 

"What about the black winged relics and the white trinity you talked about earlier- do they play any part in this whatsoever?" asked Riku. 

"Unfortunately they do. I have no doubt that whoever is driving on the darkness knows about the black relics. If they should find the relics and taint the _white_ trinity, then it's all over. Everything we've done so far will be for nothing." Mickey finished. Suddenly the fire, the blanket and the hot chocolate weren't enough to warm him. He couldn't help but shiver at Mickey's predictions. But he didn't show it of course. It wasn't in his blood to show weakness, especially after he witnessed what the heartless could do to those who were weak of spirit. 

"So all we have to do is find the relics, right? And then find the black trinity. Then everything follows up and we just gotta sit back and watch it happen… sounds simple enough," he said with a lot more courage than he thought he had. Mickey seemed to gain some confidence from this and he nodded. "If we keep cool, I'm sure we can come out of this on top. If we've made it out of the darkness, then it means that there's probably someone up there looking out for us right?" 

"I hope you're right, Riku," said Mickey. "I also hope our time hasn't run out already." Then, Riku's eyes fluttered closed on their own and an image of Kairi, Sora and him inside of a dark castle appeared in his mind. Sora raised his hand in the middle and the two of them followed with their own hands raised in undeniable friendship. 

"It doesn't matter what happens anymore. I have no regrets…" said Sora. Riku could feel the passion of something bigger than what he knew to be true burning inside his heart. It lingered briefly before it flickered and then was snuffed out by the snap back to reality. 

_I'll see you all again. I promise. _

Heads up to im-35, Ex-sama, TrueHeart, Phantazy   
& Vera for _their_ support. Love to ya!


	4. Warning

**Insidiae**  
Written by : TeddysFromHeyll  
Rating: PG 13  
Type: Romance, Action/Adventure  
Category: Kingdom hearts  
Status: Non-yaoi (not anti-yaoi), KairixSora  
Other couples: Undecided - we will see how things develop.  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Summary: Keyblade master and company encounter a new threat from the distant past. But in the mean time, the gang finds out that Sora's losing more than just hope. He's losing his heart and sinking deeper into the darkness. Can Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy and the gang bring him back before they lose him completely?   
  
Chapter 2: Riku finds sanctuary with a young girl named Ria and her mother Helen. Sora, on the other hand, finds anything _but_ sanctuary as he travels deep into the tunnels of the local town to exterminate yet another group of heartless. Are things really that simple below the surface? And has he truly found Riku?   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
AN: Oh cripes. Sorry for the horrible pause in chapters. I hit a solid wall of writers block that I couldn't overcome. Luckily, with some help and some helpful ideas/inspiration from my Beta, I was able to finish the chapter. It's a bit iffy, though. But I hope you enjoy it none the less. 

Shoutouts: All the ppls who're supporting me even now- more recently: Ex-sama, trueheart, phantazy, rem-chan, im-35 & tiger. I made a lil sumf'n fer all you guys. ^_^

http://www.boomspeed.com/akewataru/waii.jpg

Uh... sorry... I was a dufus and I forgot to draw in his chain & pocket. Hope you don't mind. ^_^.  
  
[[ This fiction was written without any outside influence. This means that it is based on my ideas and my ideas alone. Any similarities between this fic and others are purely coincidence. ]]   
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  


Chapter 4 :   
Warning 

Sora shot to his feet and listened to the (somewhat) systematic breathing of his two friends. He stepped over their packs, careful not to make any noise loud enough to wake them, and headed out into the black forest without the slightest idea of where he was going. 

Something had touched his shoulder earlier. 

After waking from the dream, he had been too restless to distinguish whether it was real or not, but a light entered his vision. It sped off into the night into a random direction leaving a speechless Sora alone in the dark to wonder whether or not he should follow. 

Both his curiosity and his need for resolution won over and he sprinted forward into the night. His dream was immediately pushed to the back of his mind. It wasn't important anymore. If anything, it was only a warning to him to watch his back. As far as he was concerned, Ansem try to pull him down into the darkness all he wanted. He'd fight until the end. 

He hit the ground when his foot caught on an uplifted root. He hit the dirt with an indignant, 'Ooph!' He had to sit a moment after getting the wind knocked out of him, but the painful scrapes on his knees only made him want to run faster. He pulled himself up and started off again, with an even greater need to catch the light. 

The light was darting back and forth about a hundred yards in front of him, and he didn't want to lose sight of it. 

_Chasing after the light shouldn't be so hard…_ he thought unconsciously. His labored breathing was the only thing he could hear besides the deafening silence of the forest around him. Their arms seemed to reach out in an attempt to snatch his limbs, but he swatted them aside hoping not to let his imagination run away with him. 

He heard barking up ahead that caused him to become slightly more conscious. "Pluto?" he asked himself and stopped. Pluto was running after it too? What if the light turned out to be something dangerous- would something happen to Pluto? The questions only drove Sora on faster as he broke into a much harder run. 

Sora wasn't sure how long he had run after the bead of light, but the moment it reached a clearing, it fizzled out into nothing. He came to an abrupt halt and took the time to catch his breath. He never knew how tired was until he had stopped. 

The moonlight didn't filter through the tops of the trees, a circle of foliage around the clearing reaching to grasp at each other. This crushed Sora's hope for the light of the moon illuminating his way and he cursed when he felt the familiar flood of fear creep into the back of his mind. He hated being afraid. He had been through too much just to be afraid of a bunch of shadows. 

He didn't know which was worse, fighting real shadows, or fighting the harmless ones that loved to wreak havoc inside his own mind. He pulled out his keyblade when he felt some kind of animal brush up against his right leg. He drew back his weapon and nearly attacked it before his common sense kicked in. 

"Pluto? Is that you, boy?" he asked. He heard an affirmative hum from the animal and he sighed in relief. "Pluto, oh man…You scared me good…I was right about to take a jab at you with my keyblade." Pluto gave a surprised yelp and he growled in protest. Sora reached out searchingly with his hands and held on to Pluto's collar. His adrenaline was already rushing through his veins and he couldn't stop the slight shaking that ran all throughout his arms. Holding on to Pluto was all he could do from keeping them from trembling. 

"Don't leave me, Pluto. Stick with me. I'm starting to really regret coming out here. I don't trust this place. I don't know why I rushed out here alone in the first place, but I know it probably wanted us out here alone for a reason. …" 

A twig snapped and Sora whipped around to look in the direction, knowing very well his eyesight was useless. 

He opened his mouth to say a few words of comfort to Pluto, but he stopped when cold lips brushed up against his ear and whispered, "Of course." Sora froze against the odd sensation. Cold, but comforting arms reached around his neck from behind in an affectionate embrace. Pluto growled, sensing Sora's posture even in the darkness. "It's all right." Its slender fingers traced an invisible line down Sora's cheek. 

"What are you …" Sora asked quietly. He was ever so glad of the Keyblade's presence within his fingers. It gave him the illusion of safety at arm's length. 

"A messenger from one who holds the thread of your destiny," it said. _It's a woman,_ thought Sora as it continued to whisper messages delicately into his ear. "You need not know who I am. Only what I have come to tell you." 

Sora held his breath. "I'm listening," Sora dared to say. Pluto's growling ceased and he raced off to an unknown destination. Sora only watched his shadowy silhouette disappear from his already worthless sight. 

At first, the words that left her mouth sounded foreign and Sora had to strain his ears to make sure it wasn't English. Her words, though, had a metallic ping that rang loudly in Sora's ears. And they beat with a rhythm that Sora knew he wouldn't forget any time soon. As if someone had suddenly flipped on a switch inside his head, the gibberish had started to make sense. 

Sora let his keyblade slip from his fingers and he let the voice envelop him, "The journey will be hard. The losses will be great. The pain. Sorrow. And hate. Emotions that you must overcome for your dreams and your destiny to be fulfilled. But as for… regret…. Just never forget that whomever you chose to be in the past is who you are now. There is no such thing as time. There was no yesterday. There is no tomorrow. There is only today. Only now." She paused, allowing the words to sink into him. "Who you choose to be in the future is who you are now." 

"I don't understand," said Sora. The arms around his shoulders slipped away and he turned around to find the glowing form of a mysterious young woman. Her pale skin gave off the faintest traces of a blue glow. "What's going to happen to us? Happen to me? Why am I having these dreams, visions? Do you know what's-" he stopped. The amused expression of her face as an obvious indication that she had no intention of answering him. "There are many forces at work here, keyblade master. I am but an unimportant character in the tapestry of your journey. Just a messenger… but I hold one of the most important messages of all: Don't fall into the darkness." Sora nodded, hating the suggestions of her warning. _Everyone is telling me that I'm going to fall…_ he thought, clenching his fist tighter around his weapon. The faerie laughed, "Sora," she whispered. "Sora!" He blinked. Another voice was meshing with hers- almost as if she never had a voice of her own. Sora rushed after her fading image. 

"Why me!?" he asked. But it was to no avail. Her figure was gone. Goofy and Donald's voices instead, took her place in the air, calling his name from afar. He snapped to attention and made his way towards the rustling of his searching companions. Pluto's barking could be heard as well and Sora smiled to himself, knowing that Pluto had indefinitely gone for help. Pluto would never abandon him. 

"Sora, are you okay? Pluto came rushing back to camp barking up a storm," Goofy spoke. Something crashed into his stomach and licked his face madly once he was on his back. He didn't bother to get up to answer. 

"Yeah- I'm fine," said Sora, a bit woozy from Pluto's tackle. It was several licks later that Pluto realized that _he_ was the reason that Sora wasn't getting up. He jumped off the poor boy and waited for him to sit up before he proceeded to fawn over him once more. Donald stepped forward and cast a small fire spell. The orange flame floated inches above his wand, illuminating the infuriated face of its owner. 

"What do you think you're doing out here all alone!? Do you know how irresponsible that was!? And what if something had happened to you, what do you think we'd be able to do about it!?" he cried. Donald caught his breath shortly after his small outburst. It made Sora laugh hearing the duck's deep breaths. They resembled very much the sound that a mangled old car and its horn would make as it sputtered to life. "You think this is funny!?" 

"N-no," Sora chuckled, "It's not that. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have gone out here all by myself. But you know, I didn't go alone… because- I had _Pluto_ to protect me." He said quickly and smiled with the infamous grin that people had come to know him for. He patted Pluto's head and Pluto nodded affirmatively. 

Donald sighed, "Hilarious, Sora. Hilarious… just why'd you come out here anyway? There's nothing out here but a bunch of trees, moss and overgrown weeds." He brushed off some stray leaves resting on his shoulder for emphasis. Sora turned to look back into the forest as if Donald's mention of his reason would make the girl appear again. The empty silence answered his question and he forced himself to return his attention to Donald and Goofy. 

"I had a dream," said Sora. 

"A dream?" asked Goofy. "What does a dream have to do in all this?" 

Sora nodded. "Yeah, a dream…. I think Ansem's not completely gone." As Sora expected, the two of them immediately jumped in their respective places with an indignant, "What!?" Donald, in fact, was so shocked that his fire spell blinked out of existence for a few moments. 

"That's exactly what I thought, myself. But I fought him in my dream and he threw my keyblade into a cliff. I wasn't able to stop him and he told me that as long as some shadow guy exists that I'll never defeat Ansem. I just don't get it." He felt a small pang of guilt. He didn't dare tell them that he _let_ Ansem throw his keyblade into the cliff. That part of his dream belonged to him and him alone. "And then, when I woke up, Pluto and I spotted something in the forest and we both ran after it." 

"Did you find out what it was?" asked Donald. 

Pluto turned to Sora worriedly as he replied, "Naw…It was too fast. We didn't catch it." 

Riku shuffled in his uncomfortably loose outfit. He was using another set of borrowed clothing and he literally had to hold up his pants to keep them from falling down. The sleeves were several inches past his wrist, making it that much harder to hold onto his clothing. 

"I'm not going outside like this," he said flatly, earning a round of laughter from both Ria and her mother, Helen. Riku wasn't amused, He only glared at the both of them. The only reason he was trying anything on at all was because his own clothes were drying outside. "These aren't clothes… they're blankets stitched together with thread and duck-tape." 

"I'm sorry, dear, I'm afraid I don't have anything smaller that will fit you. Everything else is Ria's and I doubt that you'd be able to fit into one of her dresses," said Helen. Ria darted outside temporarily to grab more clothes from her brother's drawers. The three of them were inside of her mother's room where they were giving Riku things to try on. 

"I'll have to hurt you if you force me into a dress," Riku said a little blunt. But Helen could detect the small amount of warmth Riku had worked into his own words. Helen laughed and wrapped a sash around his waist. 

"Here. Let's try this. At least if we have nothing smaller, we can just tie this around the shirt and make it fit. You can roll up the sleeves and it _should_ look somewhat normal…And that takes care of you for now. …SO," Helen said while tying the sash's ends into a knot. "Where's your little mouse friend?" 

"Who Mickey?" Helen pushed up her glasses and nodded. She stepped back to look Riku over. "He's probably out throwing himself into some books. He hasn't really told me what he's looking for, but I think it has something to do with what we were talking about the other day." 

"About the relics, right?" She said, knowingly. 

Riku nearly tripped over his own foot. "W-what… how did you…?" 

"The walls here are like paper. If anyone's in the room next to yours, you can hear their other's every word. It's been a little inconvenient, but the four of use have learned to live with it. Anyways, interesting … _quest_… you two are on…" she said as if she was discussing what was for lunch. Riku, tactful as he was, couldn't figure out to say at that point, so he just let Helen carry the conversation for the both of them. 

He sort of expected her to be a little bit more… depressed… when she found out about their reason for traveling. "It's been a really long time since something exciting has happened around here. This is a pretty peaceful place. Ironically enough, before the heartless came, Ria was talking about just how boring a town this was," she told him. 

"Can we do something about my pants? I think they're going to fall down any minute now," Riku said in a low murmur. His arms were already beginning to become sore and they weren't going to stand for being ignored for any longer. Helen brushed a stray bang out of her face as Ria finally returned with a smaller pair of pants. 

Helen left the room for a bit for Riku to change but it wasn't long before Riku walked outside with moderately fitting clothing. 

"It looks good," she said. Helen tapped his nose in approval and Riku found himself incredibly uncomfortable in her presence. 

Strangers tended not act so close to him for one reason or another. The only people whom Riku had ever found to be so open and accepting of his somewhat selfish nature at first meetings were Sora and Kairi. 

The fact that his parents were strangers didn't mean they were abusive. It was just that they tended to be away from the house so often that Riku never had a chance to bond with them as much as he wished he could. When it came to his parents, conversation was few and far in between- so having some stranger fawning over him like a mother was a bit of a shock. 

_So foreign…_ he thought. _But.. it's still so… so…_

"And it's also been a while since Ria got attached to someone so quickly. I haven't seen her this happy in a long time," said Helen, watching her daughter run around the living room in her own world.

_…so warm…_

"I can still remember what it was like to be a child. Things are so simple for children aren't they, Riku?" Riku laughed coldly at her hopeful outlook. How could someone like her possibly know anything about what the real world was like? Riku hated to say it, but Helen was the kind of person who had stayed home all her life- never really seen the world. She didn't quite grasp the concept that perhaps the world wasn't as wonderful and care-free as people said it was. _I should know… I lead the heartless, myself._

"Naïve…. I was naïve back then," he said, his gaze magnetically drawn to the six year old as well. He crossed his arms and let his eyes fall closed as he sat down on a nearby chair. "There's nothing worse than growing up and realizing that there's a bigger world out there." 

Helen raised one of her eyebrows, seemingly offended, "But realizing you're a part of something bigger, more important, is something that should comfort you. Give you a reason for life. It makes you want to be important. Be something significant and play a part." She argued, but her voice was much to soft to enforce the strong message that laced her words. 

"That's true. But you can't ignore the fact that once you find out there's something out there- You always end up wanting more than you have. So you do go. You see what's there. You realize. You regret. And it's when you finally find out that it's all just a bunch of lies your parents used to get rid of you- that you realize it's much too late to go back….I hate the real world. I'm going to get out of here as soon as possible. The whole world can go to hell for all I- " 

"Riku, dear…" Helen said, "…please do me a favor…" 

"Mm?" said Riku. Helen walked right up to the boy and began to straighten his shirt. Once again, Riku found himself feeling awkward again. It was an odd sense of guilt under the gentle act of kindness that rendered him unable to look at her straight in the eyes. "Could you please stay here a bit longer? I know you have places to go and things to do. But since the heartless came, she's been living in fear. If you're here, you can at least make her happy just for a little bit. Keep her mind on something other than fear and sadness…" 

Riku didn't answer. Anger welled up inside of his chest and he couldn't help but feel offended at what she was asking from him. What he did was his own business. Who was she to ask for such a thing? What Riku and Mickey were doing was not something they could put aside, even for the small amount of time that she was asking for. 

And he immediately felt the horrible need to lash back at her. But it dawned on Riku just why she was asking for such an unconventional favor. "The heartless took your son and your husband." 

Helen's eyes watered a moment, threatening to let tears slip down her face. Riku exhaled and refused to breath in. Now he'd done it. But to Riku's surprise, Helen only looked him straight in the face and smiled. The tears almost seemed to never have existed at all. 

_She's a strong person. How can someone like me, who's been through hell, be weaker than someone who's only been through so little?? _

"I'm going to start making dinner pretty soon. Would you mind lending me a hand in the kitchen? I'm sorry, but we've got s shortage of hands around the house as of late." 

Riku fought to keep his voice indifferent and calm, "Naw. I did chores around the house all the time. It's nothing." 

"Oh and Riku… whatever you decide to do…thank you," she said to him. "For protecting the only love I have left." _Riku, she lost her family you dipshit. You really are just a selfish bastard_, he thought to himself and followed Helen into the kitchen. 

"Guy's we've been _so_ cheated out of our money…" said Sora, sighing as he pushed around the coins on his palm. They were hardly enough to buy meals for a day, let alone a week. The long, dusty but still weed-infested path ahead caused all three to join in chorus of sighs. 

Donald looked down into his own hand where his share of the pay was. He popped the munny into his coin bag to stop himself from joining Sora in complaining. "We can't help it. We need the money and there's nothing else in town that we can do to earn it besides this." 

Goofy nodded. He ducked to avoid a low hanging tree branch on the side. "The only other thing was the shopping district where we were hired to help the vendors with their merchandise…but that didn't turn out so well." Donald and Sora grimaced as they recalled the not-so-professional fiasco they had caused in the market. Each one had to split up and look for work for the day. Sora had found the weapons shop, Donald had found a small fishing company and Goofy had found a restaurant. 

The day started out pretty well, but things just seemed to decline until the three met in their respective conditions. Sora had cuts all over his clothes and his arms because of several accidents that included many shelves falling over on him at once. Donald was soaked to the bone from accidentally being thrown over with the net. Finally, Goofy was covered in several layers of food that was actually starting to harden. No doubt Goofy wasn't the most agile person in the world, so it was pretty expected that not all his food would get to his customers safely. 

They had all made bad decisions, but it was refreshing when they all burst out into laughter upon seeing each other at the end of the day. The three of them were so rejuvenated by the reunion that they decided that perhaps they could take on one more job before the day was over. 

So things happened that they were heading over to the ruins once more to exterminate the last of the heartless. But this time, they were to descend down into some old tunnels that ran under the town itself. It was where most of the heartless were coming from and the three came to the conclusion that there might have been a nest of them in the network of paths. 

"So this is it, eh?" Donald said, running his fingers over the stone door that blocked their entrance into the tunnels. There was a small opening in the corner that would have allowed several heartless to escape the underground labyrinth, but Donald, Goofy and Sora had no chance whatsoever of fitting into the open section. 

Ancient designs were carved onto the stone and their intricate words were already fading away. Donald traced his fingers along the curves, "Look here… there's a red trinity. It might hurt a little bit, seeing as it's stone, but it's weather –worn so it shouldn't be as strong as it was when whoever made it first put this here." 

"Ah, It's fine. Shouldn't be a problem," said Sora. "We've had worse." The other two agreed and they walked back several steps before Donald made the first charge forward. Sora was next and he was followed closely by Goofy. They collided with the door and after a somewhat painful impact; the door fell forward with a loud crash. 

"Ow…" Muttered Sora, holding his head. "Maybe it really wasn't that easy to get in here after all." He laughed. His eyes followed the path down the dark tunnel and pulled out his Keyblade to light the way with. A flame glowed just above the edge of his keyblade and he smiled as it illuminated the hallway. Things had gotten so much easier in the past few years. 

He had invested countless hours to homing and refining his magic so that he could control the amounts that he was able to use. He had even stayed up nights, listening to the trees swaying and the wind slipping through the branches in an eerie choir of voices. He had spent long afternoons letting the ocean's waves glide over his feet. Nature played an undeniable role in contributing to his magic. 

And so did mental well-being. He meditated several times a day, sometimes even halting their progress altogether to calm any frayed nerves that might disrupt his concentration during upcoming battles. As annoying as Donald and Goofy may have found it, as time past, he found that he was more and more able to control his unpredictable sentiments.  
When he had first departed, he had been a trigger-happy maniac backed by an incredible need to blow as much crap up as possible every time he pulled out his keyblade. He was a lethal force in himself. Who needed reckless partners when he could wreak utter havoc on his own? 

"You really think anything's down here?" He said as he lead the way down the halls. Sora hated the silence. Even awkward conversation was enough to fill the void. Just as long as there was something there to keep his mind and his mouth busy. 

"Maybe," Goofy said, "It could be another false alarm though. We just have to be really careful because we don't know what's down here. For all we know, this place could have traps and all." 

"All that's down here are cobwebs and dust," Donald muttered, pulling off some stray spider webs that had stubbornly attached themselves to his cap. "I wouldn't be surprised if this was another bogus report. We've had our share of these already." 

Sora shrugged. Not that they couldn't complain. It wasn't that they were actually looking forward to stirring up some trouble, but it had been such a long time that Sora actually had gotten himself into a real fight. What he had encountered so far were far below his increasing abilities. So of course he was itching for a worthy fight. 

Something caught Goofy's eye and he motioned for them to stop, "Hmm, wait a sec…what's this?" Goofy reached out and tapped a small section of the wall to their right. Sora moved the light over to where Goofy had motioned. He spent a few seconds squinting in the dim light before he drew back in both fear and panic. 

"I – I think it's a switch!" Sora cried, "Goofy, don't touch it! You might set it off!" Donald and Goofy tensed. 

"You mean this place has traps after all!?" Donald said, stepping forward. Their hearts sunk as another click sounded beneath his foot. Donald laughed nervously and exchanged worried glances with Sora and goofy. "Ooooh this can't be good. Is that what I think it was?" Goofy nodded gravely. 

"Just what do we do? Any move we make can set off all kinds of stuff in here," Sora said, looking up and down the potentially dangerous tunnels ahead. "We can't just sit there though, some heartless may come while we're most vulnerable. And worst yet, they may set off some traps on their own!" 

Goofy waved his hands in front of them, grabbing their attention immediately. "Everybody calm down. I'm sure if we can think this through, we can get out of here in once piece," said Goofy. 

"What's there to think about!? Any step we make will probably end with us a few limbs short of when we started!" Donald said. "And besides, this thing under my foot isn't agreeing with thinking things through either. If I pick up my foot, it's over!" 

"Well, uh, if we're lucky, we can just get out of the way. Considering how old this place is, most likely, they're not as sensitive as they were when they were first built," Goofy suggested. 

"That's crazy!" said Sora. But he was cut off when a stone underneath Sora's foot gave away and he lost balance in an instant. He flailed about wildly, trying to grab at something, _anything_, to break his fall. His hand caught one of the old torches that lined the walls, but it gave away a few inches before stopping in place with a firm click. 

Another trap?! Sora's eye twitched. 

Three things happened consecutively. First, several arrows shot out of slits in a pillar beside Sora. He painfully contorted his arms and legs into an impossible position to avoid them. They in turn caught his shirt and trapped him against the wall.

Secondly, Donald dove out of the way of a boulder that rolling out from a compartment that opened up on his right. He hit another switch on the floor that gave away as a fourth trap, and had to desperately grab at the sides of a trapdoor that opened beneath him.

Thirdly, after letting out an indignant, "Haiye!" Goofy dodged three flying axes. The first embedded itself into his shield, penetrating two inches past its armored surface. The other two thankfully flew off in unknown directions.

Needless to say, not one of them had the composure to gracefully recover from their respective situations, so they simply sat in relieved silence.

"Okay. I think this is a little late… but I think we should take it slow…" muttered Sora, pulling out that arrows that held him up against the wall one-by-one.

"Should we really keep going? I mean, what if one of us _really_ gets _hurt_?" asked Goofy, "Is the money really worth it?"

"Most definitely not! No money's worth the heck we'll have to go through to even walk a few more _feet _let alone a few more _rooms_. It'd best if we just get out of here," Donald said. "We'll find something else to do. It'd be just plain stupid for us to keep going."

"I second that… but… well we can say good-bye to meals for a couple more days then…" Sora said. Donald cringed at his words. "But whatever. Everything's gonna turn out all right. Always does." He smiled to himself. Goofy and Donald couldn't help but join in, the cheery expression suddenly contagious. Sora started off in the direction of the exit.

"How about we call it a day then," said Sora. He unlatched his keyblade and idly spun it in his hand.

"Sounds good ta' me," said Goofy. It almost seemed like a shame to Sora, though. There was a little something inside of him that was still trying to insist he turn around and keep going. It was the all too familiar feeling that someone was waiting for him at the end of the hall. And it seemed so close.

"Sora?" Sora didn't listen to Donald's voice. He turned on his heel and actually stared back at the darkness behind him. Was there really someone waiting for him? He shook his head. His spontaneous thinking was always his downfall. Whenever he went with those random ideas that seemed to pop into his head, he more often than not, found himself in over his head.

"Guys- I'm getting creeped out right now. Can we hurry up?" he said.

Goofy tilted his head, "What's wrong Sora? You've never gotten the jitters before."

"I know that," Sora said and shivered. "It's just that… well, don't think I'm weird or anything, but I almost feel like something is calling me into there. I know that I'd usually wanna go and investigate and stuff, but this doesn't feel right. I… I can't shake it off."

"Sora, are you all right?" asked Donald. Sora cautiously put his hands over his ears, knowing for sure if he didn't leave, he'd start hearing someone speak to him from the darkness. _I don't want to go on any quests. I don't wanna get distracted. I just want to find Riku and go home._ He thought to himself. _I know that if I go in there, I'll just go on another stupid quest. It's always the same. I'm not going to listen to it this time._

"Kairi's right. You really are a lazy bum," said a voice. Sora's heart skipped several beats at once. Was that who he thought it was. It… it couldn't be! "Are you really going to be this stubborn?"

"Riku!?" Sora said. He looked down the corridor and saw a figure moving swiftly in the darkness. Sora casted another Fire spell above his keyblade and raised the flame to light the shadows. His eyes caught a flicker of blue pants and a yellow vest before it ran out of sight, deeper into the tunnels.

"H-Hey! Sora. Wait, where are you going!??!" Donald cried after Sora. He had run off, following the hollow tapping of Riku's footsteps on the floor in front of him. His two friends were immediately left behind and their voices faded the more distance came between them. _Riku!_ Sora thought to himself. _Don't leave me alone again, you stupid jerk!_

He was vaguely aware of screams sounding out behind him. Donald and Goofy. Sounded almost like they had set off more traps in trying to pursue him. It occurred to him though, that perhaps that something had wanted to see him alone and that the traps not setting off on him was deliberate. He should have cared. But something inside him told him he just didn't. Not now. He had searched for too long for his friend to let him get away so easily.

"Riku! Stop running! Why won't you stop!?" he called. He slowed down a bit, his common sense kicking in. This was just the kind of situation he had been talking about earlier. Rushing into things again.

"…R-Riku… Come on!" he cried. "God! Quit playing games."

"Sora, don't stop running!" Riku finally replied. Sora didn't move; he only frowned in reply. He could hear Riku sigh and walk slowly back up to him. He stepped into the dim light of Firaga and Sora took a few moments to make sure that what he was seeing was real.

"Sora what are you-," Riku said impatiently.

"Shut up," Sora said and stepped forward. He looked Riku over once. Twice. Three times before he reached out eagerly and rested his hand up against Riku's right shoulder. Sora's face softened when he felt Riku's warmth, "Then I'm not dreaming again."

There was a pang of some emotion on Riku's face- something that resembled guilt. It was one that Sora didn't understand, but all that mattered to Sora was that he had found him. "Sora…" Riku said. There was an unfamiliar tone in his voice as he patted Sora on his head. "Good to see you, slick."

"Slick?" asked Sora incredulously. "Don't call me that. You may be a year older than me, but it still doesn't mean you get to call me kid names." Riku laughed warmly.

"Well why not? Why don't you give me some slack. It's been a long time since I've picked on you," said Riku.

"Where are we going?" asked Sora. Riku came around behind Sora and gave him a friendly shove. Sora started off a bit awkwardly, but once he got his footing back, he was running beside Riku in quick jog.

"I'll tell you when you get there. You're not going to like it though. Sorry I had to get your attention like that. Believe it or not, there's no other way I could get you to come this quick," Riku apologized. Sora shrugged in reply and Riku turned to him. "There's some weird stuff going on, and you're one of the only people who can help me."

"That doesn't explain diddly squat, Riku. Start making some sense," Sora said. His eyes ran down to the floor. He couldn't hear Riku's footsteps anymore for some odd reason. He could only hear his own and the clacking of his key chain as it knocked back and force against the metal of his keyblade.

"I don't quite know about it myself, but if you don't fix it fast, then the same thing will happen all over again. The Heartless and everything. But worse this time."

"Riku, I don't-," Sora said. But Riku stopped him.

"Sora, who's the most important person to you?" Sora raised an eyebrow at him. He opened his mouth, but Riku took a sharp turn to his left and he screeched to a stop so he could turn in time.

"The hell kind of question is that?" asked Sora. Riku grunted with annoyance.

"Just answer it, stupid," he replied.

"Well you an' Kairi. Who else?" he said. Riku came to a halt and looked up to the ceiling. He sighed impatiently.

"Just one. Believe me… I won't care if you say who I think you will. It doesn't matter to me. Just answer it." Riku told him. He still didn't turn to face him so Sora hesitated. The question bothered him and he didn't know why. Riku probably felt the same about Kairi as he did, so he had to know his view on the whole thing. But it was sort of against his nature to give those kind of answers, so it took him some time to force out her name.

"… Kairi… I guess," he told Riku. Riku nodded understandingly and smiled at him. Sora looked back in shock. He didn't even look like himself anymore. Almost like a whole other person.

"If you continue down the right path… if you don't stop him… if you don't survive… then Riku _and _Kairi will be in danger," he said. Sora didn't respond. Riku noticed the silence and he knew exactly what was happening. _Oops,_ He thought himself, _Looks like my tongue slipped again_. Sora's face darkened. He stepped back and glared. Sora raised his keyblade up to Riku's throat and Riku didn't need to hear Sora's words to understand the risk he was taking.

"Sora. I'm sorry I had to do this. It's just that… we need you…" Riku said.

"Who are you…" he whispered dangerously. The Riku reached out and snatched both his wrists into his cold fingers. Sora fought against his grip, caught by surprise by his disregard for his own safety. He had a weapon to his throat and he dared to actually reach out and grab him?

"That's a secret I'm going to have to keep for now. I know that I probably got your hopes up for a little while, but your feelings aren't more important than the task you must carry out," Riku told him. His grip tightened on Sora's wrist and he flinched.

"Where's Riku!? Get _off_ me and tell me where the real Riku is, you … you…!" He searched frustratingly for the right word as he fought off the imposter's grip. Riku's face remained icy and stoic. His eyes weren't the same crystalline as he remembered. They were pale and flat. And he couldn't stand it any more so he shut his eyes tightly. "I know you're not him, so quit! Stop making me see him! Damn it!" Riku shoved him against the floor and held him down. The floor gave out under the two of them from the force of the attack and Sora felt himself falling quickly to the next level of the tunnels. Riku fell with him for only a few seconds before he suddenly sprouted wings and flew back up to the opening in the floor. He landed gracefully on the broken floor and he turned, his eyes watching Sora intensely.

He could hear the imposter's words even from far away. Just before he hit the floor below him, he could hear the Riku mutter, "Forgive me, keyblade master."

Then he slammed into the ground and everything went black. 

My sentiments go out to Ex-sama who's going through a really hard time right now. 


End file.
